Liz Phair

Liz Phair (born Elizabeth Clark Phair on April 17, 1967 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA) is a Grammy nominated American singer-songwriter and guitarist. The guitar that Phair is often seen playing (and is prominent upon the cover of her self-titled fourth album) is a Fender Duo-Sonic.

After asking Wood who the "coolest" indie label was, Phair called up Gerard Cosloy, co-president of Matador Records, in 1992 and asked him if he would put out her record. Coincidentally, Cosloy had just read a review of Girly Sound in Chemical Imbalance that very day and told Phair to send him a tape. Phair sent him a tape of six Girly Sound songs. Cosloy recalls: "The songs were amazing. It was a fairly primitive recording, especially compared to the resulting album. The songs were really smart, really funny, and really harrowing, sometimes all at the same time." "I liked it a lot and played it for everybody else. We usually don't sign people we haven't met, or heard other records by, or seen as performers. But I had a hunch, and I called her back and said O.K."

Cosloy offered a $3,000 advance, and Phair began working on a single, which turned into the 18 songs of Exile in Guyville.

Hoping to capitalize on the acclaim for her debut album, the release of Phair's second album received substantial media attention and an advertising blitz. Whip-Smart debuted at #27 in 1994 and "Supernova", the first single, became a Top Ten modern rock hit, and the video was frequently featured on MTV. Phair also landed the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine with the headline "A Rock Star is Born." The album received mixed reviews, and although it was certified Gold (shipments of at least 500,000 units), it ultimately did not sell as well as expected - As it was hoped this album would introduce Liz Phair in the mainstream scene. Following Whip-Smart, Phair released Juvenilia, a collection of some early Girly Sound tracks and several B-sides, including her cover of the 80s classic by The Vapors, "Turning Japanese".

In 2003, her self-titled fourth album was released on her new label, Capitol Records. Phair had not released an album in several years; she had been working on her record, as well as making guest appearances on other tracks (she lent backing vocals to the Sheryl Crow hit "Soak Up the Sun") .

Project Six (Untitled record) harvests an unencumbered collection of tracks with collaborations including an array of guest artists. Now after the recording sessions with Minnie Driver (Sea Stories), Phair has met Universal Motown and Saddle Creek Records with ideas of using new and old work in a future production.

In 1995 Phair and Material Issue contributed a cover of The Banana Splits theme song "The Tra-La-La Song" for the compilation "Saturday Morning: Cartoon's Greatest Hits." The compilation also featured punk and alternative legends such as The Ramones, Helmet, Matthew Sweet and a duet with Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly.

For the film First Love, Last Rites, Shudder To Think and Phair collaborated on the track "Erecting A Movie Star." 1997